Chapter 25

The huge man helped them outside. Achilles was the last to come out and when he did the man gave him a bear hug that would have crushed most people's bones. Achilles didn't seem too comfortable with this but he said nothing. The man finally put him down and said "It's been too long, lead foot." "It's good to see you too old friend," Achilles said, his usual emotionless face had been replaced with a smile. "Come on now, let me introduce you." He then turned to the rest of them, put a hand on the big guy's shoulder and said "Everyone, this is Ajax."

Maximus was starting to feel like his life had turned into a television show, with all of the most famous people in the world guest starring in it. In the last few days he had already met the greatest swordsman of the Trojan War, the world's most famous inventor and even a god. And now he was standing there shaking hands with the mighty Ajax. Ajax was yet another famous warrior from the Trojan War. He had fought in the Greek side along with Achilles and was very famous for his legendary strength, and seeing him in person, Maximus understood why. He was considered among the strongest warriors in the entire war. If memory served him right his weapon of choice was a huge Hammer. Maximus had a feeling that's what the summoning crystal on his wrist would bring out if needed.

After being formally introduced to everyone, Ajax asked them "Well, what are you guys doing with mister cranky over here," patting Achilles on the back. "Well, we're originally from Mars, but we got into a bit of trouble," Rex began, not sure what to say.

Luckily Achilles stepped in to explain. "They helped me rescue Daedalus from Ares's soldiers. But when the army found out they put a reward on their heads and started hunting them. They had nowhere else to go so I told them to join me to Athens. It was the least I could do," he said. Ajax scratched his beard and said, "Refugees eh. Well not to worry, any friend of Achilles is a friend of mine. You guys can stay here for as long as you like," he grinned at them and despite his rugged appearance he seemed so welcoming now. Ajax then turned to Daedalus and waved his arm in front of him to see if he would respond. When nothing happened Ajax said, "I've met old Daedalus here before, he's a friend of my boss. But he was a lot chattier then."

Achilles explained to him about Daedalus and his potion, he also went ahead to explain the rest of the trip. When Achilles was done, Ajax said "Man you really can't stay out of trouble can you?"

Ajax then went ahead to give some orders to the giant robots. And soon they picked up the wreckage that was their truck and hauled it off. "Don't worry, I'll have that truck better than new in no time. Fixing up cars is sort of a hobby of mine," Ajax said. "In the meantime I got my ride parked just around the corner, we'll go in that."

As they walked Hedger asked Ajax "So who's your boss."

"The smith god Hephaestus of course, didn't Achilles tell you I'm his champion now," Ajax answered.

That sure explained a lot Maximus thought to himself. As the champion he probably had control over the giant robots along with most of Vulcan's army. No wonder Achilles thought coming here was a good plan, no one would touch them here with Ajax around. "What I want to know though is how the soldiers found us in the first place. I mean we had been travelling for two days and our trail wasn't exactly easy to follow" Rex said.

"I was thinking about that as well," Achilles said, but he suddenly stopped walking and looked at Maximus.

Maximus turned to him and said "Wait, I didn't do anything," a bit worried with the look he was getting.

"Of course you didn't Max. But could I just take a look at your sword?" Achilles said.

Maximus handed him the sword and Achilles began inspecting it. After a few seconds he found something below the sword's hilt and showed it to them. It looked like a button in the shape of a small golden wing. Achilles crushed it in his hand and with loathing in his voice said, "Hermes."

"Is that a tracker?" Hedger asked.

"Sure does look like it" Ajax said looking at the now crushed piece of technology in Achilles's palm. Maximus had understood what had happened. Hermes was working for Ares. I mean who better to track someone than the god of messengers, thieves and travelers? But Maximus couldn't believe he had been so stupid. Hermes had planted the tracker when he had pretended to examine his blade. Even after that the blade had been with him this whole time and he hadn't even noticed it. He was feeling angrier at himself now than at Ares.

Hedger noticed his face and said, "Hey, Max it wasn't your fault, none of us knew."

"He's right Max," Ajax said, "but I still think that it's a bit weird that Hermes came himself for this. I would have guessed that taking orders from Ares was beneath him."

Achilles still looked angry, he said, "Who knows why? That double ended snake always has a plan of his own."

Ajax placed his arm on his shoulder and tried to calm him down. "Come on Achilles, relax. You found the thing didn't you? We haven't seen each other in years now, so don't let Hermes ruin the moment." Achilles still didn't look happy but he grunted agreement to this.

Ajax then turned to the rest of them and said, "Now, don't let his grumpiness fool you. This guy is one of the greatest people you'll ever meet. I mean me and him, we go way back. We're more than just friends, we're brothers in arms. We fought the entire Trojan War side by side and I could tell you a few stories about this guy. Oh the things he'd done, the fights he fought and the women he'd charmed, there's just no end to it." He then stared at Achilles with a grin on his face.

"Let's start sharing old war stories after we get to Hephaestus' castle shall we?" Achilles said, and he seemed somewhat eager to change the subject.

They had started walking again and in a minute Ajax's ride came into view. It was a pickup truck, or at least it had been at some point, because Ajax seemed to have made some serious modifications to it. Maximus could just say one thing about the truck, it looked awesome.

"I think I'm in love," Rex said staring at the truck.

Ajax seemed pretty happy to hear this, he said "Isn't she a beauty? I'm real proud of her, too. I built her up from scratch myself." The truck was big and black in colour. On both its sides there were identical half green, half blue designs. On a closer inspection, Maximus realised that it was the word 'Ajax' written in a really big square font. On the back it had a dual exhaust, and on top of the truck were five lights in a row pointing forward, like the ones seen on mountain vehicles. In the front the entire grill was covered by a huge metal guard.

Maximus believed it was called a bull-guard. The hood was also modified and had a rectangular elevation with an improved air intake system on it. "So this is how you keep busy these days" Achilles asked.

"It sure is," Ajax said, rubbing his two hands together, "and now I'm going to take up your truck as my next little project."

"That's fine. Just don't make it too fancy. We are on the run after all," Achilles said, and Ajax nodded. Then the two of them got in the front. There were only two seats so the rest of them sat in the open back of the pickup truck along with their luggage, and then they started moving through the city. The city was nowhere nearly as tall as Thrace, the capital of Mars. The buildings were not very tall either. But Maximus did notice a few huge chimneys that seemed to start from underground. He wondered what it was.

Behind the city was the famous Mount Etna, one of the largest volcanoes in the world. And he had heard somewhere that it somehow provided all the energy for the entire city. Between the city and the Mountain there was something huge built. It didn't look like a building, but it was still night and too dark to make out what it was. But whatever it was, it was the biggest thing there. They finally reached Hephaestus' castle, which was the largest building in the city. But it still couldn't have been more than ten stories high, nothing really to the towering Castles which Ares built.

Maximus was really sleepy by now. So when Ajax took them to their rooms, he didn't even bother to look around. He just collapsed onto the bed without even removing his shoes or his sword.